The Minister of Labor Claudio Moroni chairs the meeting of the Wages Council, held by Zoom.
The minimum wage, viable and mobile, continues lose the race against inflation and he moved away from the values of the basket of indigence and poverty. .
Between January and July, average inflation was 46.2%. With an estimated price increase of 6% in August, it would accumulate in 8 months a 55% increase.
Over the same period, the minimum, living and mobile wage (SMVM) went from $ 32,000 to $ 47,850, an increase of 49.5%.
With these figures over the last 6 years and 8 months (from the end of 2015 to August 2022), the minimum wage it has lost more than 30% of its purchasing power.
Its evolution over the course of 2022 will depend on the rate of price increase.
We see.
During Mauricio Macri’s administration, the minimum wage went from $ 5,588 in December 2015 to $ 16,875 in the same month of 2019: an increase of 202%. Inflation in those 4 years was 299.2%. This resulted in a loss of 24.4% of purchasing powergreater than the fall in real wages for workers as a whole.
Alberto Fernández took over the presidency with the SMVM at $ 16,875. In 2020, there was a loss of 10.4% as the minimum wage increased to $ 20,587.50, a 22% increase from inflation of 36.1%.
In 2021 it increased to $ 32,000 (December of the same year) with an increase of 55.4% compared to 50.9% in inflation. A 3% improvement.
Between January and August 2022, the loss would be 3.7%.
The law on the employment contract attributes three characteristics to the minimum wage, viable and mobile. and the less pay the worker has to receive in cash without family responsibilities for his working day. It must ensure adequate food, decent housing, education, clothing, health care, transportation, recreation, vacations, and social security coverage. And it must be periodically adjusted based on changes in the cost of living.
It is more than evident that $ 204.56 per hour or $ 47,850 gross plus the possible collection of family wages per child, it is impossible to cover all the requirements provided for by the Law on the employment contract when the the poverty basket for a typical family is about $ 112,000.
So the SMVM is not minimal, it is neither viable nor mobile in relation to rising prices. .
Minimum salary has an impact on “Promote Labor” programs. (more than a million people) who earn half the minimum wage e “Accompany” (35,000 people) women and LBGTI + in situations of gender-based violence who earn a minimum wage for 6 consecutive months.
It also affects the workers enrolled monthly or daily earning less than the minimum monthly or hourly wage. And indirectly as a reference to unregistered or informal workers.
It also affects the share of unavailability of wages which is equivalent to the amount of the minimum wage, with the exception of maintenance debts. From this value, an increasing percentage is applied to the difference between the salary received and the SMVM.
Also adjust the minimum pension of those who have retired with 30 years or more of contributions without resorting to moratoriums. In these cases it should be 82% of the SMVM.
Ishmael Bermudez
Source: Clarin
